1) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an improved carrier unit, in particular, to a disc drive carrier unit for installing a disc drive within a computer casing.
2) Description of the Prior Art
A wide use of electronic information device, particularly the computer has been epidemic to users of all ages. In this highly competitive age for specialization and professionalization, the related industries regarding computer hardware design, manufacturing and assembly have to constantly come up with research idea in the common goal of lowering manufacture cost to improve their competitiveness on the marketplace. Consequently, any improvement of computer hardware structure, which offers the potential for substantial structural simplification, ease of assembly or costs reduction, is regarded as an industrial innovation to computer hardware manufacturers, as well as in conformity with the spirit of the Patent Act. In view of the foregoing, the invention provides an improvement detail of a disc drive carrier unit thereof.
Generally, a computer system is designed with a space inside the computer casing beforehand for installing a floppy disc drive, a hard disc drive, and so on. The disc drive is usually encompassed by a disc drive carrier unit and secured inside the computer casing as disclosed in the R.O.C. Utility Model Patents, No. 216664, No. 371062 and No. 421278.
As shown in FIG. 1, a conventional computer casing 1 usually has at least two disc drive frames 11 and 13 for optionally mounting a floppy disc drive, a hard disc drive, a CD-ROM drive or a DVD-ROM drive, and so on. The disc drive frame 13 has a space 15 for securing a disc drive or a CD-ROM drive therein, both sides of the disc drive frame 13 are pre-set with four mounting holes 135 (corresponding to the standard lockhole positiones of a disc drive or a CD-ROM drive) for securing a selected disc drive or a CD-ROM drive. In addition, the disc drive frame 13 has four projecting pieces 131 on both sides thereof, and each of the projecting pieces 131 has a mounting hole 133. The four projecting pieces 131 and the correspondent mounting holes 133 are used to secure the disc drive frame 13 inside one lateral side of the computer casing 1 or on the bottom surface of another disc drive frame 11 by screws or other fastening elements.
However, the computer casing 1 and the disc drive frames 11 and 13 of conventional technology are formed by the stamping technique with precision not easily controlled. In the event when the disc drive frames 11 and 13 are deformed to cause serious inaccurate positions of the projecting pieces 131 and the mounting holes 133. Consequently, this leads to misalignmnet with respective positioning holes on one lateral surface inside the computer casing 1 or on the bottom surface of another disc drive frame 11, making the assembly a defective product. And perhaps, in the event when one of the four mounting holes 133 on the projecting pieces 131 is shifted in position, the disc drive frame is also regarded as a defective product due to adjustment failure. Besides, it is not a convenient in such assembly since four screws are needed to secure a disc drive frame 13 on one lateral surface inside the computer casing 1 or on the bottom surface of another disc drive frame 11.
Moreover, the majority of a disc drive is surrounded by the disc drive frame 13, which is then secured on one lateral side inside the computer casing 1 or on the bottom surface of another disc drive frame 11, so that electromagnetic interference (EMI) is easily incurred during disc operation to harm a user's health condition, and electrostatic discharge (ESD) makes the disc drive vulnerable to additional damage from electrical overstress (EOS). Therefore, these technology drawbacks are necessary to be improved for installing related computer devices, e.g., floppy disc drive, hard disc drive, CD-ROM drive, DVD-ROM drives, etc.
In view of the foregoing, how to design a disc drive carrier unit to remove the above problems and drawbacks associated with the prior art technology, adding up the advantages of ease of assembly/disassembly, avoiding the phenomena of electromagnetic interference and electrostatic discharge with the advantages of costs reduction and decrease in rejects, has been a major concern to be solved.